When the Well Runs Dry
Water Treatment Plant Brings Safe Water to Albuquerque

By Scott Blair

For much of its history, the city of Albuquerque was unconcerned with the level
of water usage. City engineers reported a nearly limitless supply of groundwater replenished by the Rio Grande River.

 

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However, over time and after several long-term city, state and federal studies, city officials came to realize that almost half the water pulled from the ground was not being replenished. In 1997, the city adopted its current water usage plan, which calls for diversion of water from the San Juan River through the San Juan-Chama River Project, a series of conveyance channels, diversion dams and pipelines to bring the water over the continental divide and into Albuquerque's Rio Grande River.

Construction started on the approximately $500 million project in 2004 and should continue under multiple contracts through 2008.

The city has owned the stake in this water source since the Upper Colorado River Compact was drawn up in 1922, but until now has either stored its allotment or leased it to other users.

The keystone of this massive public works project is a $160 million water purification plant designed by the Albuquerque office of CH2MHill that will process the diverted water into safe drinking water.

The 80-acre facility will be home to a mind-boggling array of nearly two dozen buildings, drying beds, tanks and miles of piping.

"When planning for this project, we divided it into major areas and handled it as four independent, though coordinated, areas," said Luis Ventoza, vice president of PCL Civil Constructors Southwest of Phoenix, the general contractor on the project.Triad Builders was brought on as a 20 percent partner. The Albuquerque-based firm assisted with providing local subcontractors and contacts in the area, Ventoza said.

The three-year construction project began in 2005.

The water will be sent into two 50-million-gallon settling ponds that will separate the sediment out with the aid of chemicals.

The ozone contactor building will oxidize any organics in the water and then the filtration facilities will utilize granular-activated carbon to remove any remaining organics.

The treated water will then sent into the finished water storage tanks. "Most of the structures are lined up on an east/west axis," said Howard O'Connell, construction manager for PCL/Triad. "An 84-in. main water line and two smaller lines will be buried under 10 ft. of concrete from three, 1,800-yd. pours. Piping will come up through the concrete into the various filtration systems in the buildings above ground."

In addition to the 84-in. line, the project utilizes 66-in. and 72-in. pipe, supplied by Northwest Pipe of Phoenix. "The pipe comes in 50-ft., straight lengths, and every joint is welded inside and outside and then air-tested to make sure it doesn't leak," Ventoza said.

There are a huge number of fittings on the project because the water will be piped to and from so many separate structures, Ventoza said. "Our team is probably spending most of their time with the fittings, making sure the angles and coordinates match," he said.

"One of the things we do that's different from a lot of other contractors is we produce a three-dimensional model of our yard piping. It allows the team to take sections of the model directly into the field, so if there are any conflicts they are identified early and given to the engineer for a solution."

The concrete shortage in New Mexico caused some major headaches for the construction team. "Early in the project we were hit by an allocation which cut our scheduled concrete production in half," Ventoza said. "Right now we are playing catch-up.

"With the help of the city, we were able to negotiate with our local concrete supplier, LaFarge of and they increased our allotment. A lot of work we were planning on doing earlier is happening now in the winter, so that's hurting our schedule."

Even still, the three-year project is only about two or three months behind schedule, Ventoza added.

Key Players

Owner: Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority
General Contractor: PCL Civil Constructors/ Triad Builders a joint venture
Design: CH2MHILL
Concrete: PCL Civil Constructors
Steel: D'Ambra Steel
Electrical/Mechanical: McDade-Woodcock, Inc

 

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